Career MILESTONES: FSAD faculty are honored by international trade association.

Negrea, Sherrie

Fifteen years ago, Susan Ashdown MA '89 received a gift from an alumna that would change the trajectory of her research: a donation to help purchase a 3-D scanner for Cornell.

Until then, Ashdown, the Helen G. Canoyer Professor of Fiber Science & Apparel Design (FSAD), had been using a tape measure, taking at least 45 minutes to get information about a person's size and shape. A 3-D scanner, however, could generate a measurable full image of the body within 12 seconds.

"Having a body scanner really made a difference," says Ashdown, adding that Cornell was the second university in the country to purchase one for apparel research. "We developed an international reputation, and it's grown from that one instrument."

Ashdown, an expert on using technology to create better sizing options in apparel, was honored for 25 years of work when she was named an International Textile and Apparel Association Fellow at the ITAA's annual conference in November. The honor is the highest award given by the ITAA, a professional and educational association for the textile, apparel, and merchandising disciplines in higher education.

At the same conference, Jooyoung Shin, an Assistant Professor of Fiber Science & Apparel Design at Cornell, received the 2016 ITAA Award for Innovative Design Scholarship for her work "Oneness," a dress that combines Eastern and Western cultural perspectives toward fashion.

"I was very proud because this was my first achievement after joining Fiber Science & Apparel Design," says Shin, who was participating in the ITAA competition for the first time. "I was thrilled to have my work recognized by peers from all over the world."

Shin, who began teaching at Cornell last year, has conducted research on fashion and the concept of beauty, contemporary fashion trends, and the study of different cultural perspectives on dress. In addition to her academic research, Shin is a lifelong fashion designer and has had two solo exhibitions of her work.

"Oneness" examines how differing perspectives in Eastern and Western cultures have affected fashion design. The black-and-white dress, which reflects the complementary relationship between yin and yang, features a two-dimensional, one-legged trouser and a three-dimensional gathered skirt.

Ashdown, who has taught at Cornell since 1991, has recently begun pioneering the use of half-scale dress forms that allow manufacturers to use smaller models for clothing design. While teaching an apparel class, Ashdown found it was effective for students to develop patterns using a mannequin that was half as tall and half as wide as the typical dress form, saving material and development time. Patterns can then be scaled up using a CAD system.

Recently she has been working with Alvanon, a Hong Kong-based dress form and consulting company, on adopting the half-scale dress forms for use by the apparel industry. "In a busy apparel company, you just don't have the luxury of using full dress forms," Ashton says. "These half-scale forms could be very useful."

Ashdown, who is retiring in two years, says she was pleased that at the same ITAA conference where she was named an ITAA Fellow, her new colleague received a major award. "It is always hard to leave a job and a department that you love," she says, "but I am confident that the wonderful young faculty joining the department will develop great programs and research in their own way."